American Way of Death Revisited

Here is the classic anatomy of America's funeral practices, revised, expanded, and brought up-to-date for a new generation.

Thirty-five years ago, Jessica Mitford's savage and hilarious The American Way of Death was a number one best-seller and occasioned new legislation intended to reform the funeral industry. By the time of her death in 1996, Mitford had almost finished a complete revision of that long-out-of-print book--demonstrating, with her genius for outrageous and devastating muckraking, that, far from being reformed, the industry is more pernicious than ever in its assault on our values and our wallets.

This revised edition contains completely new chapters on, among other things, prepayment ("Pay Now--Die Poorer") and the new multi-national corporations ("A Global Village of the Dead"), as well as a jaundiced look at the failure of the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the laws that the original edition of this book helped bring about. And, of course, there's a total updating of the facts and figures that tell the tale.

A classic work of investigative journalism. A brilliant piece of satirical writing. An essential guide to dealing with the questionable (to put it politely) practices of an industry that--alas--sooner or later affects us all.

A revised version of the outrageous and devastating 1963 account of the death industry, which Mitford was working on when she died in 1996. Documenting that the questionable practices she lampooned are as bad as ever, she also considers new topics such as prepayment in Pay Now--Die Poorer and the new multinational corporations in A Global Village of the Dead. A state-by-state directory of not-for-profit funeral and memorial societies provides relief from the comedy of horrors.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jessica Mitford--of the notorious Mitford clan--was one of the most celebrated muckraking journalists of our time. Among her books are Daughters and Rebels, The Trial of Dr. Spock, and Poison Penmanship: The Gentle Art of Muckraking. Until her death in 1996, she lived in Oakland, California, with her husband, the labor lawyer Robert Treuhaft.